The use of mounts and mounting assemblies of various designs and configurations to affix lighting and other accessories to poles is known in the prior art. Such designs include:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,794,826 to Jablonski, which discloses an arrangement for holding a pole-top light to the open end of a hollow support pole.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,432 to Compton et al., which discloses a tenon for mounting a lighting fixture to a support.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,865 to Terrel, which discloses an adjustable lamp mounting assembly for two lamps.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,380,792 to Terrell, which discloses a pivot mounting for a lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,459,649 to Shaneour, which discloses a pole mounted lighting supporting frame system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,260,860 to Jordan et al., which discloses an expanding tenon clamp for securing a lighting fixture to a mounting apparatus and pole.
A number of other patents relate to various connecting inventions designed to securely connect and hold pipes of differing diameters, such as that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,077 to Hendrickson, which discloses a pipe coupling, and inventions designed to securely connect and hold one portion of pipe to another, and such as that found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,800 to Heilmayr et al., which discloses a secondary confinement pipe assembled from identical pipe segments.
While the devices disclosed in these prior patents fulfill their respective objectives, these prior patents do not describe or suggest a "twin-mount" or "multi-mount" assembly for mounting lights or other accessories to poles or tenons of either square or circular cross section, resulting in a single mount capable of attaching such lighting or accessories to either type of support at the user's discretion. In this respect, the multi-mount assembly of the present invention substantially departs from pre-existing designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides the user with the highly desirable ability to mount to a variety of poles, with varying cross sectional shapes. The mount of the present invention thereby provides the user with the flexibility to mount, with a single assembly, to the pole or tenon the user may have on hand. The user thereby avoids the necessity of replacing the pole, at great time and expense, and allows the user a wider choice in poles or tenons, without regard to cross sectional shape, so long as the width of the mount chosen matches approximately the size of the desired (or available) pole or tenon.
The ability to mount to poles or tenons of either circular or square cross-sectional shape is accomplished through a multi-piece mount assembly, composed of one length of generally cylindrical pipe, having generally circular cross section, positioned within another piece of pipe of approximately equal length, having generally square cross section. The finished mounting assembly is thereby constructed in such fashion as to allow the user to slip the mounting assembly over or around a corresponding pipe or tenon of generally circular cross section, or slip the mounting assembly into or within a corresponding pole of generally square cross section at the discretion of the user. The ability to thereby use a single mounting assembly on poles and tenons of either cross-sectional shape without purchase of a second mount matching the characteristics of the user's existing pole or tenon (or replacing the existing pole altogether) results in substantial savings in user time, and in many cases the avoidance altogether of the time and expense required to replace the mount or the mounting pole, while avoiding purchase of a separate tenon. Therefore, it can be appreciated a need exists for a new multi-mount design which allows just such a dual-use mounting assembly.